Friends Party To Remember Hempfield High Teen Killed in Likely Heroin Overdose

The gathering was more like a party than a vigil: dozens of friends and family members gathered around a bonfire in an ice covered parking lot outside Hempfield High School to remember 18-year-old Jonathan Morelli, who died Wednesday from what the coroner says was likely an overdose of heroin.

“He was a good kid. He didn’t even realize how many were here that actually did appreciate him,” said David Frank, a friend of Morelli. “Tonight obviously proves that everyone’s here for him and deeply, deeply respects him and loves that kid.”

“He was just an amazing, amazing person,” said Morelli’s mother, Rachele. “He had an amazing heart and I can’t imagine what our life is going to be like without him.”

The teenager was the 5th person the coroner believes died from heroin in a little over a week, and part of a deadly trend of heroin abuse in the region. But Morelli’s mother doesn’t want her son to be remembered as a statistic.

“The most amazing thing about Jonathan was his heart. He put everybody before himself. He would help anybody, give anything,” she said.

The teen clearly had many people who cared about him: over 800 people showed up for his funeral. But not even all of those friends could help him overcome the pain his mother says he suffered at an early age. In 4th grade, his father committed suicide. And a year later a close friend died after being hit by a car.

Morelli’s mother believes that pain and a family history of depression led him to turn to drugs as a way to get relief. She says he became addicted to heroin and had been through rehab several times. She believed he’d been clean for over a year.

“My son was not a bad person. My son had severe issues that he was trying to deal with in his life and just trying to move on every day with his life was hard.”

At Saturday night’s vigil, his friends burned their clothing in the bonfire, raised candles into the air, and sang Morelli’s favorite song, “Wagon Wheel” by the band Old Crow Medicine Show. Most didn’t want to talk about the drug problem that likely led to his death, instead focusing on the young man whose life was taken too early.

“There’s many, many reasons why people do what they do,” said David Frank. “Johnny was my best friend.”

Morelli’s mother also hopes people remember her son for what he did in life, and realize that drug addiction can happen to anyone.